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Using Griffiths Valuations, Irish Census and Tombstone Information to Locate Families (Transcriptions.3)

30 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by Janet Maher in Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Kilkenny Mahers, Origins, Tombstone Transcriptions

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Gowran, Griffiths Valuations, Ireland 1901 and 1911 Censuses, Irish Tombstone Transcriptions, Kilkenny, Thomastown

Gowran Roman Catholic Church ©2011 Janet Maher

I continue to examine documents for possible links between my study in Connecticut and the areas of Ireland that I have pinpointed as places of origin for a select group of people. Certain families within a relatively close range from towns near the borders of Tipperary, Kilkenny and Laois, Ireland, settled in Naugatuck, New Haven County, Connecticut. In forms of wave migration, Thomastown, Kilkenny, was one place that became clear.

After the Great Famine (1845-1849) it can be assumed that many Mahers who had once lived in the Barony of Gowran, and other areas of Ireland, emigrated or did not survive. If they were not leaseholders, some may not have appeared in Griffiths Evaluations even if they might have lived and worked on the land. Thus, some continued to remain invisible. There is a strong likelihood, however, that Mahers in Ireland after the Famine had been related in some way to emigrated Mahers whose ancestries led back to the same areas. The following is an example of a way to gather indirect information that might help to locate families and form a bridge between emigrated individuals and those who continued the family lines in their homeland.

Roadsigns to Gowran or Carlow ©2011 Janet Maher

Through baptism records I have determined that one of the Maher families in my study originated in Kilfane, which was in the Union of Thomastown, Barony of Gowran. Ask About Ireland’s Griffiths Valuation index turned up 105 hits for the surname Maher in the Barony of Gowran, Kilkenny, almost thirty years after the first members of the family appeared in America. Mahers were living in the Gowran areas of Columbkille, Dungarvan, Gowran, Graiguenamanagh, Grangesilvia, Kilfane, Kilderry, Kilmacahill, Powerstown, Saint John, Shankill, Thomastown, Tullaherin, and Woolengrange.

In 1850 one Philip Maher remained as a leaseholder in the townland of Ballykeoghan. An Anne Maher leased a house in the townland of Newtown, Parish and Union of Thomastown. In Kilbline, Parish of Tullaherin, Union of Thomastown, was listed one Patrick Maher who leased fifty acres of land, with house, offices and garden, and one Martin Campbell, who leased, in turn, a small parcel of land from Patrick Maher. In Knockbrack, Woolengrange, Union of Thomastown, Margaret Maher lived on seventeen acres of land. By pulling each name up in this way, one at a time, it is possible to learn details about each person who appears in the online Griffiths Valuation index and attempt to match them to other information one might have. There is a large jump between Griffiths Valuations and the 1901 census, available (with the 1911 one) from the National Archives of Ireland, but information from Griffiths may help to link the earliest immigrant settlers that left Ireland around the time of the Famine. (In Ireland is the collection of the actual Griffiths returns.)

Mahers living in Gowran in 1901 included those in the townlands or streets of: Bodal (Patrick Maher, a tailor); Brickana (Margaret Maher, working as a servant); Commons (John and Catherine Maher and family); Gallowshill (John and Bridget Maher and family); Main Street Upper (Mary Maher and her sisters) and Lower (Mary Maher and her son); and Talbotshill (Margaret Maher, a farmer). In 1911 with some changes, the groups and most of the individuals were still there.

In house #1 in Gallowshill [Gallows Hill] in 1901 were John and Bridget Maher, John’s father, Michael (a retired farmer), and John and Bridget’s children: Mary, [Jeramiah], Joseph, Bridget, Teresa, along with a farm servant named Michael Cunningham. This house had likely been Michael’s, as his name was first entered, then crossed out, by the census-taker in Form B1, the House and Building Return. John might have been Michael’s oldest son, heir to the family house and land.

By 1911 Michael had died and Joseph was gone from the house, which was now considered as house #2 by the census taker. Some time around 1904 John and Bridget’s daughter, Agnes had been born. The House and Building Return for 1901 listed Mary Hogan as the owner of house #2. (In 1911 the numbers for both families were reversed, although given the data, they did not exchange houses.) Mary’s structure had two more front windows than John and Bridget’s three, and in 1911 a few more changes could also be seen. Both houses were built from “stone, brick or concrete.” Mary’s roof was made of “slate, iron or tiles.” John’s was thatched or made of “wood or other perishable materials.” John had eight out-offices or farm-steadings; Mary had ten. For both, these included a barn, stable, cow house, calf house, fowl house, piggery, turf house and potato house. Mary also had a dairy. Nine people lived in four rooms in John’s house; two people lived in three in Mary’s. In 1911 they each seemed to have expanded the spaces inside the houses, such that there were now two rooms in the individual dwellings, and John had added another window. Both families were Catholic.

I photographed several of the tombstones on the grounds of Gowran Church, Kilkenny City, Kilkenny, last summer, with a focus upon surnames that also appeared in early Catholic Naugatuck, Connecticut. Here, among my images, was the stone for what appears to have been the same Jeremiah, above, and three of his sisters! This stone, which at one time may have had an image or carving attached to its face, was inscribed:

In Loving Memory Of  / JERMIAH MAHER / Gallows Hill Gowran / Died 1st Nov 1937 Aged 54 Yrs / His Sisters BRIGID MAHER / Died 23rd Jan 1970 Aged 85 Yrs / TERESA MAHER / Died 1st June 1982 Aged 83 Yrs / And AGNES MAHER / Died 16th  Feb 1987 Aged 83 Yrs. [The grave site extends forward about ten feet in an enclosed area covered with small white stones.]

From this information it might be surmised that neither Jeremiah nor his younger sisters had married. We do know that their parents’ names had been John and Bridget (or, the original spelling, Brigid) Maher and that their grandfather, a widower, had been Michael Maher, born about 1821, according to the 1901 census. We can also picture them in place as, perhaps, a typical Catholic farming family in rural Kilkenny. Did Jeremiah’s older sister, Mary, and younger brother, Joseph, marry and/or settle in another part of Ireland? What was Bridget’s maiden name? With further research, such as a study of baptism and marriage records, much more might be revealed about this family.

[Jermiah] Maher and sisters, Gowran ©2011 Janet Maher

Another Maher grave in Gowran Cemetery included this inscription:

Erected By His Widow / In Memory Of / JOHN MAHER, Gowran / Who Died 21st January 1881. / Aged 66 Years. / And Of Their Children / ALICE and CATHERINE / Also in Memory of  / ELIZA MAHER / Widow of the Above / Who Died 5th February 1885 / Aged 66 Years / And Their Daughter / MARY / Who Died 15th March 1907 / Aged 65 Years. / R. I. P.   [At the lower edge of the stone was also: ELIZABETH Died 28th Sep 1913 / BRIGID 7th Aug. 1919 / JANE 19th…(more)]

Some other surnames that I found in Gowran Cemetery which also exist in early Irish cemeteries of New Haven County included:

[One large Celtic stone in an enclosed plot; just outside the plot another large stone, family name Hanlon with inscriptions.] Cross / Jesus Mercy, Mary Help / This Cross Was Erected By DANIEL BLANCHFIELD BLANCHFIELD’S PARK / In Memory of His Mother / BRiDGET BLANCHFIELD / His Brothers RICHARD and PETER / And His Nephew JAMES BYRNE / Who Died 13th Jany 1885 In The 25th Year Of His Age / His Grandnephew, OWEN BLANCHFIELD KEHOE / Who Died 2nd Feb. 1993, In His 69th Year. / And His Nephew, JAMES RICHARD (JIM) KEHOE, / Who Died 17th Nov. 2000, In His 46th Year. / R. I. P.  [At base] His Mother, MAURA KEHOE [dates covered by plant, 2009] Aged 83 Yrs.

Pray For the Soul of / MICHAEL BOWE, Ballyquirk / Who Died Sept 15th 1879, Aged 81 Yrs. / Also His Wife ELLEN BOWE Nee WALSH / Died May 23rd 1891 Aged 69 Yrs. Also Their / Son THOMAS Died Sep. 9th 1910 Aged 70 Yrs. / Also Their Son JOHN Died Feb. 2nd 1912 / Aged 66 Yrs. and Their Son MARTIN / Died May 2nd, 1923, Aged 78 Yrs. / Also Their Daughter ELLEN / Died July 22nd 1930, Aged 75 Yrs.

Sacred Heart of Jesus / Have Mercy on the Souls of / JOSEPH BUTLER / CASTLE VIEW / died 19th June 1965 / His Wife MARY / Died 31st Jan. 1967 / Their Son, JAMES, / Died 6th July 1993 / R. I. P. / Erected By Their Loving Family

Cross / Erected By JAMES CAHILL / Of Gowran / In Memory Of His Children / ELLEN CAHILL / Who Died March 19th 1879 / Aged 7 Years / MARY CAHILL / Who Died August 20th 1882 / Aged 20 Years / MARGARET CAHILL / Who Died November 5th 1885 / Aged 19 Years / Also ELLEN and MARTIN CAHILL / Who Died Young / R. I. P.   [Side] Cross / Also / In Memory Of / ROBERT CAHILL / Who Died 14th August 1893 / Aged 28 Years / And / PATRICK CAHILL / Who Died 16th September 1894 / Aged 20 Years. / Also / In Memory Of The Above-Named JAMES CAHILL / Who Died 13th December 1896 / Aged 67 Years. / Also His Wife / BRIDGET CAHILL / Who Died 29th April 1920 / Aged 81 Years.

Sacred / To the Memory of / JOHN KELLY / of Dungarvan. / Who Died 15 December 1878 / Aged 62 Years / Also Three Of His / Children Who Died Young / And of His Wife / MARGARET KELLY / Who Died 16 March 1907 Aged 72 Years /  And of His Son JAMES J. KELLY / Who Died In Melbourne 19 Oct. 1913. / Aged 40 Years / And His Daughter / MARY FRANCES HAYDEN / Who Died Jan. 30th 1831 Aged 65 Years / Also His Son WILLIAM F. KELLY / Who Died Nov. 14th 1943. Aged 80 Years. / Requiescant In Pace.

[Two stones sharing the same enclosed plot filled with small white stones] Erected / In Loving Memory / Of / JAMES J. O’DONNELL [CLASHWILLIAM] / Died 18th May, 1962 Aged 80 Years. / His Wife ANGELA Nee DOWLING / Died 22nd Apr. 1983 Aged 87 Yrs. / Their Son ANDREW / Died 17th May 1995 Aged 78 Yrs. / Their Son MAURICE / Died 8th Nov. 1995 Aged 62 Yrs.   [Stone #2]  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus / Have Mercy / On the Souls of / NORA M/ O’DONNELL / Who Died 24th May 1963. / Infants of LOUISE and JOHN. / JAMES BRENDAN O’DONNELL / Died 25th Apr. 1997 / Aged 73 Yrs. / R. I. P.  [The stonecarver was Mullan, from Kilkenny.]

Cahill stone, Gowran; Blanchfiled to the right, behind ©2011 Janet Maher

©2012 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Purchasing My Book

26 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, History, Kilkenny Mahers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Ordering From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Origins

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Amazon.com, American Mahers, Ancient Ireland, Early Irish History, Gaelic Ireland, Irish Catholic, Irish Catholic History, Irish Catholic Immigrants, Irish Genealogy, Irish History, Irish Meaghers, Naugatuck Connecticut, New Haven County Connecticut, New Haven County Mahers, Patrick Maher, Tombstone Transcriptions

Lynch’s Farm ©2010 Janet Maher, image from our family collection, digitized, restored and hand-colored by the author (pigmented ink on archival paper, 12 1/6″ x 18 3/4″, framed 18″ x 25″) included in From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut. 

After a bit of editing for unexpected typos that I found, I have reordered my book, From the Old Sod, Early Irish Catholics of New Haven County, Connecticut, which is now in its First Edition, revised, version. It is 399 pages and includes 336 images. It is now back in stock and available for sale. How to purchase my book:

1. From the author! The price is $65.95. I will pay for packing and shipping in the U.S. and will sign it if you’d like. I am offering a price break at three/four ($62) and five/six ($58) copies. You can order my book securely through this blog using PayPal (click below on correct number of copies to activate this feature) or send me a U.S. drawn check at this address: Janet Maher, Department of Fine Arts, Loyola University Maryland, 4501 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD, 21210.

Purchase One Copy Here;  Purchase Two Copies Here;   Purchase Three Copies Here;   Purchase Four Copies Here;   Purchase Five Copies Here;   Purchase Six Copies Here.

2. From Amazon.com. If you have purchased it this way and would like for me to sign it, you can mail it to me at the above address and include a self addressed stamped padded envelope for its return.

3. If you live outside the United States, it is possible to purchase my book here: Amazon.com Canada; Amazon.com UK; Waterstones.com. If you would like for me to sign it, please mail it to me at the above address and include a self addressed stamped padded envelope for its return.

I welcome reviews of my book. You can include yours in comment sections on this blog, and/or on the spaces for reviews on Amazon or Barnes and Noble sites.

To see the Table of Contents, please refer to my May 24, 2012 post here.

I hope that everyone who reads my book will enjoy it and will have found it helpful in their own quest to learn more about the earliest Irish Catholics of New Haven County and the Catholic history of Ireland. Thank you for your interest in my labor of love and thank you in advance for purchasing it!

©2012 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics In New Haven County, Connecticut

11 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, History, Kilkenny Mahers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Origins, Pilgrimage, Thoughts

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American Mahers, Ancient Ireland, Brennan, Early Irish History, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, Irish in the Civil War, Irish Meaghers, Irish pilgrimage, Milesian Genealogy, Naugatuck Connecticut, New Haven County Mahers, Patrick Maher, Saint Bernard Cemetery, Tombstone Transcriptions

©2012 Janet Maher, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, books at home; image: Katherine Maher Martin and Eliza Maher, ca 1850s

©2012 Janet Maher, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, books at home; image: Katherine Maher Martin and Eliza Maher, ca 1850s

First thing I did when I got the proof was to take pictures of it, then bring it into my department and show it to my colleagues, who then immediately got to hold it. Not exactly like having a baby, but pretty exciting, nonetheless.

The first mention in the press is out, on the Naugatuck Patch! The book is in the process of being offered on the Amazon website, and will also be available through Amazon.uk.

Hope to see some of you on June 21. Huge news is that Jane Lyons is flying all the way over from Ireland to be there! We’ll be going to the Irish Festival in New Haven that weekend too!

Wishing you all well,

Janet

©2012 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

17 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, History, Kilkenny Mahers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Origins, Pilgrimage

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American Mahers, Ancient Ireland, Ancient Irish Art & Artifacts, Catholicism, Connecticut, Ireland, Irish diaspora, Naugatuck Connecticut, Tombstone Transcriptions

Coming Soon!

Beginning from an interest in her own family’s history, with From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley Janet Maher shares a deeply textured journey through a fascinating corner of the Irish Catholic diaspora. She explores the history of Ireland through the perspective of Catholicism, bridging it to the origins of Catholicism in Connecticut generally, then to several Irish families whose personal stories extend to the present.

Mapping and thoroughly transcribing the oldest Catholic cemetery in Naugatuck, Saint Francis, Maher has made connections between generations of families and friends. The book includes selected marriage, baptism and death records throughout the nineteenth century and excerpts from rare letters between Irish immigrants and individuals still in Ireland. It is replete with photographs from Ireland and Connecticut, and restored personal photographs selected from families’ collections, including her own, from materials safeguarded in scrapbooks and albums for years. In many ways Maher has made the people whose graves she encountered in cemeteries come alive again.

Creatively overcoming the limited existence of early genealogical records, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley draws a colorful, intimate multi-layered vision of a generation of immigrants and their descendants who shaped the character of southern Connecticut. Its fusion with family histories brings to the foreground a captivating thread in the tapestry called America.

Janet Maher has been a professional artist for more than thirty years. Her drawings, prints, artist books, mixed media works and collaborative projects have been exhibited widely and are in numerous private and public collections. A native of Connecticut, she also lived and worked in New Mexico before settling in Baltimore, where she is an Associate Professor of Visual Arts at Loyola University Maryland. This is her first scholarly book.

©2011 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

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Merry Christmas and Every Other Celebration!

20 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, History, Kilkenny Mahers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Origins

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Early Irish History, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, Maher, Meagher, Naugatuck Connecticut, Saint Bernard Cemetery, Saint Francis Cemetery, Tombstone Transcriptions

My Book - Coming in January!

Well, the semester has ended, and we did not quite get the book completed. I will be doing much over the break to get it ready and we will have it out by the end of January! A very merry holiday season to you all and many blessings in the new year!

©2011 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Ancient Ireland

04 Thursday Aug 2011

Posted by Janet Maher in History, Origins

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Ancient Ireland, Ancient Irish Art & Artifacts, Cormac Mac Art, Maher, Meagher, Milesian Genealogy, Oillioll Olum

Irish Flag Postcard

Irish Flag Postcard from Janet Maher Collection

All great nations with ancient histories in the world had strong oral traditions that kept the culture’s memory alive through poetry and song. In Ireland, the only country whose national symbol is a musical instrument, history is still contained in its musical traditions. Traveling storytellers, the seanachais/shanachies, carried Irish history throughout the landscape, one household hearth at a time. When written language emerged, it was an ecclesiastical skill, and the history of Ireland (and the world) was preserved in the monasteries in exquisite hand-scribed and illustrated handmade books. For many centuries the clergy were the only literate people, having studied abroad for the priesthood. When education was forbidden for Catholics, children were taught secretly in open fields, thus learning to speak, read and write Irish in tandem with learning the history of their country. The arrival of Ireland’s first populations is steeped in mysticism and lore, as much a part of the poetic tradition as the sacred spirit of the place.

Archeologists have determined that during the Middle Stone Age, the Mesolithic period sometime around 9,000-7500 B.C., individuals and small groups began to venture into Ireland, walking over the naturally formed ice bridge between Europe and the northern area that became Scotland. (Eamonn P. Kelly, writing about prehistoric antiquities  for the National Museum of Ireland in 2002 placed the date as about 7000 B.C.) When the ice melted around 6,000 B.C, Ireland became separated from the rest of Europe by the Irish Sea, which was enough of a barrier to protect the island from Roman and other nation’s conquests for many centuries. Ireland was full of forests, minerals and ore deposits, and by about 3,500 B.C. farming settlers had introduced agriculture. The early inhabitants constructed the ceremonial stone circles, monumental stone dolman portal tomb structures and the passage graves of Dowth, Knowth, and Newgrange, which date to about 3000 B.C.  The Hill of Tara, in County Meath, was anciently important to all the clans in Ireland, and its “enclosure of the kings” (Rath na Ri) has been determined to date to about 94 or 95 B.C. (McCaffrey, Carmel and Eaton, Leo, In Search of Ancient Ireland, The Origins of the Irish from Neolithic Times to the Coming of the English, Chicago, IL: New Amsterdam Books, 2002, pg. 62.) (See images of stone circles and other archealogical sites at Paola Arosio and Diego Meozzi’s web site.)

Dugout canoes, simple boats made of branches covered with stretched animal hides (coracles) and similarly made rowboats that could travel greater distances (currachs), were used from the first century into the twentieth century, particularly on the west coast near the Blasket Islands, which is still fairly remote and where Irish is still spoken. Legend has it that Saint Brendan sailed in A.D. 500 in a currach all the way to the continent that eventually became America.

Exquisite bronze, gold and iron works, examples of which are held in the major museums of Ireland and England, were made surprisingly early. Ornate brooches held capes in place, jewelry (arm bands, collars, earrings, clothing fasteners), decorative weapons and cauldrons, elaborately illustrated monastic texts (Book of Dimma, Book of Kells), handheld bells, missals and jewel encrusted box shrines that contained them were discovered at various times throughout the nineteenth century. An ancient book, the Fadden More Psalter, found preserved in a bog in Tipperary in 2006, is now on display in the National Museum of Ireland.

The collection of antiquities there is stunning, testifying to the extremely high level of Irish craftsmanship that existed even in Neolithic times (3600 – 2800 B.C.) Very thin sheets of gold were fashioned into ornamental round and crescent-shaped discs embossed with geometric patterns, likely worn over clothing as collars signifying rank and status during the Early Bronze Age (c. 2200-1800 B.C.). By the Middle Bronze Age goldsmiths could twist long thin bars into delicate spiral necklaces. In the first century B.C. craftsmen could already work with glass. Delicate as a pod and about the size of a half mango, a small golden boat sculpture (likely representing a currach) is among the treasures attributed to the first century B.C.  Several tiny oars extend from each side, a crossed mast points upward and eight seats span its width. The Museum holds several ornamental shrines and brooches, including the Tipperary and Roscrea Brooches, the Killamery Brooch (Kilkenny) and the magnificent Shrine of Saint Patrick’s Bell (1100 A.D.). The Clonmacnoise Crozier is there (11th century) and the Ardagh and Derrynaflan Chalices (8th and 9th centuries, respectively).

(See Wallace, Patrick F. and Floinn, Raghnall O’ Floinn, editors, Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland, Irish Antiquities, Dublin: Gill & Macmillan Ltd., 2002, and The Faddan More Psalter, Archeaology Ireland, 20 July 2006, National Museum of Ireland.)

Irish artwork of early Medieval times was associated predominantly with the largest group of warrior settlers from Central Europe – the Celts. The term Celt, originates from the Greek term, Keltoi, which referred to those who lived north of Greece. The Romans, whom the Celts conquered in the 4th century, called these people Galli (Gauls). The Gaels (Gaeils, Gaills) were firmly in place in Ireland by 400 AD. The Irish language (Gaelic), which was in existence by 150 A.D., is a mixture of pre-Celtic and Celtic forms of speech. Edward T. O’Donnell explained the different dialects: Brythonic Celtic (P-Celtic) came from Britain and Gaul, which became the languages Welsh and Breton (and the extinct Pictish and Cumbrian languages); Goidelic Celtic (Q-Celtic) was the dialect of those who settled in Ireland and Iberia and became Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx Gaelic.  (O’Donnell, Edward T., 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History, New York: Gramercy Books, 2002, pg 6.)

Ireland was divided into the provinces of Munster (Southwest), Leinster (Southeast/East), Connaught (West), Ulster (North) and centralized Meath/Mide, which later became part of Leinster. The areas now contain several counties each, and particular surnames are still associated with them.

The original Irish, rural and tribal, functioned amid complex layers of leadership. Families shared and worked their lands communally using natural fluid land formations as designated perimeters of their properties, which extended great distances. Each of the major Gaelic tribes had their own King, under which were Ruling Lords who oversaw a number of Noble Chieftain families, who in turn had their own subjects. Extended family groups were called tuathas (i.e “people/community”) .

The ruling families employed historians, genealogists, musicians and poets, which comprised Bardic (literary) family groups.  Some families managed ecclesiastical properties (Erenach families); some were physicians and surgeons. Poets (fili) and Druids were among the highest classes and, with their great skills in memorization they held all the oral knowledge of history and science of the time. Brehons (lawyers) settled disputes by mediating laws that were born of Irish wisdom from commonly accepted practices, and the rights of women were considered equally with men. Women continue to be leaders overtly or behind the scenes in Ireland, and they feature among the great heroic tales, particularly of Cúchulainn, Fionn Mac Cumaill, and the Red Branch Warriors. (See Malachy McCourt’s History of Ireland for a seanachai’s style telling of these – Philadelphia and London: Running Press, 2004, pp. 13-26)

Although the various kings and chieftains in the tuathas continually vied for power and property, the Brehon Laws covered non-religious conflicts within the separate petty kingdoms. Every person had an “honor price” based upon their importance in society, and punishments were decided according to the honor prices of both sides in a dispute.

Myths explain the origins of Ireland’s people, which, like any ancient stories that have survived to this day, may have germs of fact involved. The Tuatha de Danann, the Firbolgs, and the Formorians were said to have formed the first races of Ireland. The O’Meaghers descended from the original Gaels, originating with Mileadh/Milesius of Spain, from at least 1700 B.C. or earlier. His three sons, Heremon, Heber, and Ir, were credited with beginning the ancestries of the 150 or so major noble Gaelic families in Ireland. Legend tells that Mil’s sons conquered the earliest inhabitants of Ireland. (See Google Books: A short history of the Irish people from the earliest times to 1920, Mary Teresa Hayden, George Aloysius Moonan. See also Pat Traynor’s transcriptions, Milesian Genealogies from the Annals of the Four Masters.)

The Cinel (descendents) Meachair trace their earliest lineage from Fionnchada, son of Connla, son of Cian, who was killed in the Battle of Samhair in A.D. 241. (O’Meagher, Joseph Casimir, Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., American Edition: NY, 1890, pg. 13.) Cian was the second son of King Oillioll Olum, King of the Provence of Munster in the 3rd Century and Munster’s first absolute King. (Shaw, Antony, compiled by, Portable Ireland, A Visual Reference to All Things Irish, Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, 2002) Oillioll Olum died in A.D. 234. His father was Eoghan Taighlech, also called Owen the Splendid and Magh Nuadhat. Taighlech descended from Milesian’s son, Heber. O’Meagher noted that Eoghan Mor was called Mogh-Nuadadh and was killed by Conn of the 100 Battles. (pg. 199) (For more about Oillioll Olum see Google Books: The History of Ireland, From the Earliest Account of Time To the Invasion of the English Under King Henry II, T. Comerford, Esq., Baltimore: James Scanlon and B. Edes Publishers, 1826.)

According to Kane’s Ancestral Map of Ireland (Kane Strategic Marketing, Inc., P.O. Box 781, Harbor Springs, Michigan, 49740; Limerick, Ireland, 1993), some ancient Mahers were also descendents of Cormac Mac Art and Conaire Mor, both descendents of Heremon. Cormac Mac Art was the son of King Art Eanfhear, Monarch of Ireland A.D. 227 to A.D. 266. (The chapel of Cormac Mac Art at the Rock of Cashel is presently being restored.) Eanfhear was the son of King Conn of the Hundred Battles, Monarch of Ireland A.D. 166 to A.D. 195 (or, from another source, A.D. 123 to A.D. 157). The lineage of Conaire Mor appears to have died out. He had been “sixteenth in descent from Heremon” and his line included King Conaire the 2nd, Monarch of Ireland A.D. 157 – A.D. 166. (Shaw) The Meaghers/Mahers appear on the map within the barony of Ikerrin.

The common ancestor among the various pedigrees in Joseph Casimir O’Meagher’s compilation of pedigrees is Oilioll Oluim. Created by different scribes for important occasions, one pedigree was copied from the Psalter of Cashel. Saint Benignus (Beonna), the bishop of Armagh after Saint Patrick, was a descendent of Oilioll Oluim, as was Saint Cronan, Abbot of Roscrea. (O’Meagher, pp. 191-199)

Third century King Cormac Mac Art attempted to unite all of Ireland with Tara as its center, but there would be no overarching King of Ireland until Brian Boru overcame the O’Neills in 1005. Boru briefly united all the counties of Ireland by claiming the High Kingship until his death in 1014.

Among the surnames with noble ancient Gaelic roots for three categories of privilege that I have compiled from Kanes’ Ancestral Map of Ireland for the counties of Tipperary, Kilkenny and Queens (Leix/Laois) were the following: (Note that “O” or “Fitz” before a surname means “grandson of” and “Mc/Mac” before a surname means “son of.”)

Kings: Tipperary (Kings of Cashel) – MacCarthy, O’Brien, O’Callaghan. Princes: Tipperary – O’Carroll, O’Donnegan, O’Donohoe, O’Brien; Kilkenny – O’Carroll, O’Donaghue; Queen’s County – MacGilpatrick (Fitzpatrick).

Ruling Lords: Tipperary – MacBrien, O’Cuirc (Quirk), O’Day (O’Dea), O’Dinan, O’Dwyer, O’Fogerty, O’Kennedy, O’Meagher (O’Maher), O’Sullivan; Kilkenny – O’Brennan (Fassadinen area), O’Brodar; Queen’s County – O’Dempsey, O’Dowling, O’Dunn, O’Moore.

Noble Chieftains: Tipperary – MacCormack, MacGilfoyle, O’Brien, O’Cahill, O’Carroll, O’Connelly, O’Cullenan, O’Hogan, O’Hurley, O’Kean, O’Lenahan, O’Lonegan (O’Lonergan), O’Meara, O’Mulcahy, O’Ryan, O’Shanahan (Shannon), O’Skelly (O’Scully), O’Spellman (O’Spillane); Kilkenny – O’Callan, O’Hely (O’Healy), O’Keeley, O’Ryan, O’Shea; Queen’s County – MacEvoy, MacGorman, ODuff, O’Kelly, O’Lawler, O’Regan

(See also, Walsh, Dennis, Old Irish-Gaelic Surnames, A Supplement to Ireland’s History in Maps)

While it is impossible for anyone today to genealogically prove their lineage back to ancient Ireland, appreciating the long reach of some clans’ emotional ties to their homeland may help, by extension, to put in context the rebellious feelings that many had toward the waves of newcomers who displaced them, became their landlords, and/or forced their own ancestors to permanently flee to other countries or relocate to barren parts of the island.

Recommended Reading:

Chambers, Anne, Ireland’s Pirate Queen, The True Story of Grace O’Malley, New York: MJF Books, 2003.

©2011 Sinéad Ní Mheachair (Janet Maher)

All Rights Reserved

Ikerrin Origins

29 Friday Jul 2011

Posted by Janet Maher in Origins

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Ikerrin, Irish Midland Ancestry, Maher, Meagher

Rock of Dunamase

Rock of Dunamase, July 2011

In ancient times the land divisions of Ireland were very different from the way they appeared in post-Norman centuries, when a modern sense of town layout and clear parameters had been established. Ikerrin (Ui Cairin), an area extending between Munster and Leinster, was localized as the northeast corner of Tipperary with land subtracted into King’s and Queen’s Counties in 1556 by Queen Mary, creating Offaly and Laois, respectively. Just over the border of both Tipperary and Laois is the county of Kilkenny. Towns within and between all these counties are easy to reach by car and were likely commonly traveled by foot, horse and cart or bicycle centuries ago. The sept, or clan, Meachair/O’Meagher originated in Ikerrin.  Its primary town, anciently called Muscraighetire, where the barony of lower Ormond (Butler) became situated, was called Ros Cré (“Wood of Cre”) now Roscrea, Tipperary.

A landmark in the area, which can clearly be seen from the Rock of Cashel, is the gap in the Slieve Bloom Mountains called “The Devil’s Bit,” near Templemore, Tipperary. Lore explains the nickname from a story that the devil, frustrated that he could not tempt the devout residents of the area, took a bite out of the mountain and spit it eastward, forming the foundation of the Rock of Cashel. A second version of the story attributes the removed portion as having formed the base, instead, of the Rock of Dunamase in Laois (Queen’s County). A gift from Leinster King Diarmuid mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurrough) to Strongbow (Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare) as part of the agreement that opened the door to the Normans’ entry into Ireland, this castle was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell in the mid 17th century.

View From Dunamase

View From Dunamase, July 2011

In 470 A.D. Saint Patrick was said to have traveled to Muscraighetire to preach, and he baptized three grandsons of Conla, “men of power,” from the clan that became Meagher (the Irish spelling of the surname spelled several other ways based upon various pronunciations and family traditions). Furic, Muinnech, and Mechair were given blessings by Saint Patrick that their clan would produce chieftains forever and be in the companionship of a king.  (Joseph Casimir O’Meagher, Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, 1890, pg. 14)

Saint Cronan founded a monastery in Ros Cré in 606, called Inchinamo. Ruins of the Irish Romanesque abbey are near the Saint Cronan Church. The original sandstone church had a round tower, a carved high cross, medallions and other relief carvings depicting knots, Noah’s Ark, and the first abbot. In the 8th century another monastery near Roscrea, Inchanambeo, was founded on an island. This church lasted at least to the early 12th century when it was mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters. A cell within Inchanambeo was called Toome.

Joseph Casimir O’Meagher related that from this area came the 17th century Book of Dimma, in the collection of Trinity College in Dublin, which is a copy of the 654 A.D. Book of Gospels from the Abbey of Roscrea. The book is understood to have been the property of the parish priest of Roscrea, whose nephew, Rev. Philip Meagher, was the Vicar General of Cashel and Emly. The shrine (elaborate enclosure/box) for the book was made in the 12th century. The white bronze highly decorated Ikerrin Brooch, similar to the brooches in the National Museum of Ireland – Archeaology in Dublin, is in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. Also in this collection are two portions of ancient bronze trumpets found in Roscrea. In 1692 a highly decorated gold cap considered to have been a Meagher crown was found in a bog by the Devil’s Bit, documented in Abbé MacGeorghegan’s Histoire d’Irlande. O’Meagher attempted to discern its whereabouts and decided that it had likely been melted down. (pp. 13, 124 -127)

The O’Meaghers owned many castles throughout Munster and Leinster associated with abbeys or churches and there were many notable members of the clergy in the sept. The Mahers commonly intermarried with members of the Butler dynasty, which ensured some degree of survival, if not financial security in difficult times. Almost all Gaelic families had lost their property by the seventeenth century either through inter-tribal battles, English confiscation, banishment from Ireland before or after the devastating conquest of Cromwell, or through dispersion, willingly or unwillingly, throughout the southern counties of Ireland and the world.

The name Maher is still primarily associated with Tipperary, although it extends into Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Carlow, Waterford, and elsewhere. All Mahers, wherever they may have put down new roots over the many centuries, and no matter how their name is spelled today, essentially originated in Ikerrin, although ancestry directly leading back through the ancient generations is, of course, impossible. As one of the noble ancient Gaelic families, pedigrees were created for the surname, and O’Meagher included several of them in his exhaustive research (pp. 191-205). I consider his book, Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, to be the bible about Maher, a first resource in beginning to study the ancestry of the name. It is in the Public Domain and available printed on demand through Amazon.

©2011 Janet Ní Mheachair (Janet Maher)

All Rights Reserved

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